WO2023100414A1

WO2023100414A1 - Autonomous mobile object control method

Info

Publication number: WO2023100414A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/027505
Authority: WO
Inventors: 義文郡; 聡夫重兼
Original assignee: パナソニックＩｐマネジメント株式会社
Priority date: 2021-11-30
Filing date: 2022-07-13
Publication date: 2023-06-08
Also published as: CN118369629A; JPWO2023100414A1

Abstract

An autonomous mobile object control method according to the present disclosure is a method for controlling an autonomous mobile object that controls a drive unit for moving the body thereof, the method comprising: a first step for determining an approach path that is a path of the autonomous mobile object to a start point outside an elevator and controlling the drive unit so as to move the body according to the approach path; and a second step for determining a boarding path that is a path of the autonomous mobile object from the start point to an end point inside the elevator and controlling the drive unit so as to move the body according to the boarding path.

Description

Autonomous mobile object control method

The present disclosure relates to a control method for an autonomous mobile body.

Autonomous moving bodies such as robots that move autonomously are becoming widespread. Patent Literature 1 discloses a robot that autonomously moves between floors using an elevator installed in a facility. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-100000 discloses a technique for controlling a robot to rotate and align the orientation of the robot with the elevator in order to realize smooth boarding and alighting operations when boarding and alighting on an elevator.

JP 2020-187483 A

However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the robot turns without considering the positional relationship between the robot and obstacles such as walls around the elevator. etc. may occur.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a control method for an autonomous mobile body that can autonomously and safely move to the inside of an elevator cage.

A method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to the present disclosure is a method for controlling an autonomous mobile body that controls a driving unit that moves an aircraft, and an approach route that is a route of the autonomous mobile body to a starting point outside an elevator is set. determining, determining a first step of controlling the drive unit to move the aircraft based on the approach route, and determining a boarding route that is a route of the autonomous mobile body from the starting point to the end point inside the elevator; and a second step of controlling the drive to move the vehicle based on the boarding path.

According to the present disclosure, the autonomous mobile body can autonomously and safely move to the inside of the elevator car.

1 is a perspective view showing an example of an appearance of an autonomous mobile body according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. Top view of autonomous mobile body Diagram showing how an autonomous mobile body turns Functional block diagram of autonomous mobile body Flowchart showing an operation example of an autonomous mobile body Schematic diagram showing a top view of an autonomous mobile body moving in an elevator and its surrounding area A diagram showing a specific example of section information when an autonomous mobile body moves on the floor shown in FIG. A diagram showing a specific example of section information when an autonomous mobile body moves on the floor shown in FIG. Diagram for explaining the turning direction of the aircraft at the waypoint Diagram for explaining another example of the turning direction of the aircraft at the waypoint A diagram for explaining how the target point setting unit sets the target point. A diagram showing the positional relationship between an autonomous mobile body and multiple detection points

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the appearance of an autonomous mobile body 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The autonomous mobile body 1 is an autonomous mobile robot that can move autonomously, for example, inside a facility. In the present disclosure, it is assumed that the autonomous mobile body 1 is used in a facility that allows movement to multiple floors by elevator.

The autonomous mobile body 1 comprises a body 11 to which a pair of drive wheels 12 and a pair of driven wheels 13 are attached. In the present disclosure, the movement of the autonomous mobile body 1 may be described as the autonomous mobile body 1 moving the body 11 .

FIG. 2A is a top view of the autonomous mobile body 1. FIG. The autonomous mobile body 1 can move forward or backward with the driven wheel 13 side as the front and the driving wheel 12 side as the rear.

By controlling the rotation direction and speed of the drive wheels 12, the autonomous mobile body 1 can rotate the body 11 and adjust the orientation of the body 11. For example, by rotating the left and right drive wheels 12 in opposite directions at a constant speed, the fuselage 11 can turn about the midpoint of the left and right drive wheels 12 . In the present disclosure, the position of the center when turning the fuselage 11 is described as the turning center Cw.

In FIG. 2B, the state before turning of the airframe 11 is shown with a solid line, and the state after turning is shown with a dotted line. Thus, in the autonomous mobile body 1, the turning center Cw of the body 11 is located at the center of the drive wheels 12, which are the rear wheels. That is, as shown in FIG. 2B, the turning center Cw is shifted rearward from the center position of the body 11 in the longitudinal direction. In other words, the center of rotation of the airframe 11 is eccentric to the rear side. In the present embodiment, the eccentricity of the turning center means that the turning center is deviated from the center of the circumscribed circle of the body 11 when viewed from above. Note that the rear side of the fuselage 11 is an example of one side of the present disclosure. In the present embodiment, the eccentricity of the turning center refers to the above-described mode, but is not limited to this. For example, the turning center may be shifted from the center of gravity of the aircraft. In either case, it is possible to safely and autonomously move to the inside of the elevator car by the method of getting into the elevator car, which will be described later.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1,

range sensors

14A and 14B are attached to the airframe 11. The

range sensors

14A and 14B acquire the distance to an object existing around the autonomous mobile body 1, such as an obstacle or a wall, for each angular resolution. The ranging sensor 14A is attached to the front of the airframe 11, and the ranging sensor 14B is attached to the rear of the airframe 11. As shown in FIG. Range sensor 14A detects the position and direction of an object present in front of airframe 11, and range sensor 14B detects the position and direction of an object present in front of airframe 11. FIG. In the following description, the

range sensors

14A and 14B may be collectively referred to as the range sensor 14. FIG.

A control unit 15 is provided inside the airframe 11 . The control unit 15 is a computer including a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a storage medium such as a memory.

Next, the control system for the autonomous mobile body 1 will be explained. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the autonomous mobile body 1. As shown in FIG.

The control unit 15 includes a storage unit 151 , a movement control unit 152 , a route determination unit 153 , a position estimation unit 154 and a target point setting unit 155 .

The storage unit 151 includes a map information storage unit 151A, a section information storage unit 151B, and a shape information storage unit 151C.

The map information storage unit 151A stores map information of the range in which the autonomous mobile body 1 can move. The autonomous mobile body 1 stores section information in the section information storage unit 151B. The shape information storage unit 151C stores information about the shape of the elevator.

The map information is information related to a map that indicates areas where the autonomous mobile body 1 can move and areas where obstacles such as walls and signboards exist. As an example, the map included in the map information is an occupation grid map. The occupancy grid map is obtained by dividing the floor on which the autonomous mobile body 1 moves into grids and giving each grid a value indicating whether it is a movable area or an area corresponding to an obstacle. .

The section information storage unit 151B stores section information indicating the section in which the autonomous mobile body 1 moves. The section information includes the start point position and end point position of the section, and information indicating whether the end point position is inside the elevator. Note that the section information storage unit 151B may store section information regarding one section in which the autonomous mobile body 1 is scheduled to move from now on, or may store section information regarding a plurality of sections. The section information about the plurality of sections is stored in the section information storage unit 151B in association with the order of the sections in which the autonomous mobile body 1 moves.

When storing a plurality of pieces of section information, the section information storage unit 151B may store all the section information in advance. It may be accumulated at any time. The section information will be described later in detail with specific examples.

The shape information storage unit 151C stores shape information related to the shape of the elevator in which the autonomous mobile body 1 gets on. The shape information is information about the shape of the elevator when the door is open. The shape information will be described later in detail with specific examples.

The movement control unit 152 controls the movement of the autonomous mobile body 1. Specifically, the movement control unit 152 controls the drive wheels 12 so as to move the body 11 along the route generated by the route determination unit 153 . Note that the movement control unit 152 may avoid obstacles within a range that does not deviate from the route based on the detection result of the range sensor 14 while the body 11 is moving along the route.

The route determining unit 153 determines a route for moving the aircraft 11 from the starting position to the ending position based on the map information and the section information, and generates route information regarding the determined route.

The position estimating unit 154 uses the detection result of the range sensor 14, the rotational speed information indicating the rotational speed of the driving wheel 12 output from the encoder incorporated in the driving wheel 12, and the information stored in the map information storage unit 151A. Based on the existing map information, the position of the autonomous mobile body 1 is estimated.

When the movement control unit 152 moves the autonomous mobile body 1 into the elevator, the target point setting unit 155 prevents the aircraft 11 from colliding with a wall surface provided with an elevator entrance, an elevator entrance, a wall surface inside the elevator, or the like. Set a target point to be moved so as not to

<Operation example of the autonomous mobile body 1>
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an operation example of the autonomous mobile body 1 having the configuration described above. The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is executed when the autonomous mobile body 1 tries to newly move one section.

In step S1, the route determination unit 153 acquires section information for the next movement of the autonomous mobile body 1 from the section information storage unit 151B. As described above, the section information includes the starting point position, the ending point position of the section, and information indicating whether the ending point position is inside the elevator.

In step S2, the route determining unit 153 refers to the acquired section information and determines whether the end point is inside the elevator. If the end point is not inside the elevator (step S2: N), the process proceeds to step S3, and if the end point is inside the elevator (step S2: Y), the process proceeds to step S7.

If the end point position of the section is not inside the elevator, in step S3, the movement control unit 152 turns the front side of the body 11 to face the end point position.

In step S4, the route determination unit 153 uses the first route determination method to determine a route for moving the aircraft 11 from the start position indicated by the section information to the end position. The details of the first route determination method will be described later.

In step S5, the movement control unit 152 moves the body 11 forward along the route.

In step S6, the movement control unit 152 determines whether or not the body 11 has reached the end point position due to the movement in step S5. If the machine body 11 has reached the end position (step S6: Y), the process returns to step S1, and if not (step S6: N), the process returns to step S5.

On the other hand, if the end position of the section is inside the elevator, in step S7, the movement control unit 152 turns the front side of the body 11 away from the end position.

In step S8, the route determination unit 153 uses the second route determination method to determine a route for moving the aircraft 11 from the start position indicated by the section information to the end position. The details of the second route determination method will be described later.

Then, in step S9, the movement control unit 152 moves the body 11 backward along the route.

In step S10, the movement control unit 152 determines whether or not the body 11 has reached the end point position due to the movement in step S9. If the machine body 11 has reached the end position (step S10: Y), the process returns to step S1, and if not (step S6: N), the process returns to step S9.

If it is determined in step S6 or step S10 that the autonomous mobile body 1 has finished moving through all sections, the process ends.

<Specific example>
Below, operation|movement of the autonomous mobile body 1 demonstrated in FIG. 4 is demonstrated with a more concrete example. Below, on the floor with the facility where the entrance of the elevator 500 is provided, the autonomous mobile body 1 autonomously moves from the departure point Ps set outside the elevator 500 to the destination point Pd set inside the elevator 500. , the operation when getting into the elevator 500 will be described in detail. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a top view of the autonomous mobile body 1 moving in the elevator 500 and its surrounding area.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the departure point Ps is provided at one location in the elevator hall 600 facing the entrance of the elevator 500, and the destination point Pd is provided inside the elevator 500, respectively. The autonomous mobile body 1 first moves from the departure point Ps to the vicinity of the entrance of the elevator 500 in the elevator hall 600 , changes direction (turns) on the spot, and then moves to the destination point Pd inside the elevator 500 . In the following description, the point where the autonomous mobile body 1 turns is referred to as a waypoint Pw. A waypoint Pw is a point in the elevator hall 600 and near the entrance of the elevator 500 . For reasons described later, the waypoint Pw is preferably set at a position relatively close to the entrance of the elevator 500 . The starting point Ps, waypoint Pw, and destination point Pd are set in advance before the autonomous mobile body 1 starts moving.

For the sake of explanation, a two-dimensional coordinate system XY is set in the top view shown in FIG. The X-axis is an axis set in a direction parallel to the wall surface 501 on which the elevator entrance is provided, and the Y-axis is an axis set in a direction perpendicular to the wall surface 501 on which the elevator entrance is provided. be. In the XY coordinate system shown in FIG. 5, the coordinates corresponding to the departure point Ps are (10,10), the coordinates corresponding to the waypoint Pw are (40,10), and the coordinates corresponding to the destination point Pd are is (40,30).

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing specific examples of section information when the autonomous mobile body 1 moves on the floor shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the section information includes the section number, starting point position, ending point position, elevator flag, and maximum speed of each section.

The section number is the number given to each section. 6A shows the section information of the section given the section number 01, and FIG. 6B shows the section information of the section given the section number 02. FIG. In this way, the section information is associated with each section number and stored in the section information storage unit 151B.

Section number 01 corresponds to the section from the departure point Ps to the waypoint Pw shown in FIG. On the other hand, the section number 02 corresponds to the section from the waypoint Pw to the destination point Pd shown in FIG. That is, the section indicated by the section number 01 and the section indicated by the section number 02 are continuous. In the following description, the section corresponding to section number 01 may be referred to as section 01, and the section corresponding to section number 02 may be referred to as section 02.

In the section information shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the starting point position indicates the position of the starting point of each section. The end point position indicates the position of the end point in each section. The starting point position of section 01 shown in FIG. 6A corresponds to the starting point Ps shown in FIG. 5, and the coordinates are (10, 10). The end point position of the section 01 shown in FIG. 6A and the starting point position of the section 02 shown in FIG. 6B correspond to the waypoint Pw, and the coordinates are (40, 10). The end point position of the section 02 shown in FIG. 6B corresponds to the destination point Pd, and the coordinates are (40, 30).

The elevator flag is a flag indicating whether or not the end point position of each section is inside the elevator, and corresponds to the information indicating whether or not the end point position is inside the elevator in the above description. The elevator flag is set to "1" if the end point location is inside the elevator, and to "0" otherwise. In the present disclosure, the inside of the elevator means the space inside the car of the elevator. In the example shown in FIG. 6A, the end point position of section 01 (i.e., waypoint Pw) is outside the elevator hall, so the elevator flag is "0", and in the example shown in FIG. Since the destination point Pd) is inside the elevator, the elevator flag is "1".

The maximum speed is the maximum speed at which the autonomous mobile body 1 can move in each section. The method of setting the maximum speed is not particularly limited, but for safety, the autonomous mobile body 1 is set to a smaller value when entering or moving inside the elevator than when moving outside the elevator. may be set. In the example shown in FIG. 6A, the maximum speed of section 01 is set to 1.0 m/s, and in the example shown in FIG. 6B, the maximum speed of section 02 is set to 0.5 m/s.

[Operation in section 01 (section from departure point Ps to waypoint Pw)]
Below, operation|movement of the autonomous mobile body 1 in the area 01 is demonstrated concretely. In the autonomous mobile body 1 located at the departure point Ps, the route determination unit 153 (see FIG. 3) acquires section information corresponding to the section 01 from the section information storage unit 151B (see step S1 in FIG. 4). As described above, the section 01 is the section from the departure point Ps to the waypoint Pw.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the elevator flag in section 01 is "0". That is, the end point position (way point Pw) of section 01 is not inside elevator 500 . Therefore, the movement control unit 152 controls the drive wheels 12 to change the direction of the autonomous mobile body 1 so that the front side of the body 11 faces the end point position (way point Pw) (see step S3 in FIG. 4). . As described above, the direction change of the autonomous mobile body 1 is performed by the movement control unit 152 driving the left and right drive wheels 12 in mutually opposite directions, so that the turning center Cw eccentric to the rear side of the body 11 is the center. will be As a result, the front side of the body 11 faces the end point position, and the body 11 can be smoothly moved to the end point position.

After the aircraft 11 has finished turning, the route determination unit 153 uses the first route determination method to determine a route for moving from the starting point (departure point Ps) to the ending point (waypoint Pw) ( (see step S4 in FIG. 4). In the present disclosure, a route traveling from a starting point Ps outside elevator 500 to a waypoint Pw outside elevator 500, that is, a route for approaching elevator 500 is referred to as an approach route.

The first route determination method will be explained in detail. In the first route determination method, the route determination unit 153 determines the approach route based on the position of the autonomous mobile body 1 estimated by the position estimation unit 154 .

The position estimation unit 154 estimates the self-position based on the detection result of the ranging sensor 14A (see FIG. 1) in front of the aircraft 11 and the map information stored in the map information storage unit 151A (see FIG. 3). do. A known method can be used for the method of estimating the self-position by the position estimator 154 . Also, the accuracy of the estimated self-position may be improved by using a plurality of self-position estimation methods.

Explain with specific examples. The position estimating unit 154, for example, uses a method (a method called map matching or the like) that compares the detection result of the range sensor 14A and the map information stored in the map information storage unit 151A to determine the first self-position. Compute candidates. In addition, the position estimation unit 154 calculates a second self-position candidate based on the movement amount of the autonomous mobile body 1 calculated from the rotation speed information output by the encoder that measures the rotation speed of the drive wheel 12 and the starting point position. . Then, the position estimation unit 154 integrates the first self-position candidate and the second self-position candidate using a Kalman filter or the like to obtain a final self-position estimation result.

The route determination unit 153 determines the approach route based on the estimation result of the self-position estimated by the position estimation unit 154, the detection result of the range sensor 14A, and the map information. In the example shown in FIG. 5, a route that moves linearly from a starting point Ps, which is simply a starting point, to a waypoint Pw, which is an ending point, is shown. a person, a pillar, a signboard, etc.) is detected by the ranging sensor 14A or specified from the map information, the route determination unit 153 may determine the approach route so as to bypass the obstacle.

If there are no obstacles between the start point Ps, which is the starting point, and the waypoint Pw, which is the end point, the route determination unit 153 can It is preferable to determine the approach route so as to move along the wall surface 501 . The reason will be explained in connection with FIGS. 7A and 7B described later.

When the approach route is determined, the movement control unit 152 controls the drive wheels 12 to move the autonomous mobile body 1 forward along the approach route determined by the route determination unit 153 (step S5 in FIG. 4). reference). With such an operation, the autonomous mobile body 1 can safely and autonomously move from the starting point Ps to the waypoint Pw.

[Operation in section 02 (section from waypoint Pw to destination point Pd)]
When the autonomous mobile body 1 arrives at the waypoint Pw, which is the end point position in the section 01, the route determination unit 153 determines that the movement in the section 01 is completed, and from the section information storage unit 151B, the autonomous mobile body 1 next Section information corresponding to section 02, which is a section to be moved, is acquired (see step S1 in FIG. 4). Whether or not the autonomous mobile body 1 has arrived at the waypoint Pw, which is the end position of the section 01, is determined by whether or not the estimation result of the self-position estimated by the position estimation unit 154 matches the position of the waypoint Pw. It may be determined by whether

As described above, the section 02 is the section from the waypoint Pw to the destination point Pd.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the elevator flag in section 02 is "1". That is, the end point position (destination point Pd) of section 02 is inside elevator 500 . Therefore, the movement control unit 152 controls the drive wheels 12 to change the direction of the autonomous mobile body 1 so that the rear side of the body 11 faces the destination point Pd inside the elevator 500 (step S7 in FIG. 4). reference). This allows the rear side of the aircraft 11 to face the destination point Pd.

It should be noted that, as described above, the waypoint Pw is a point near the entrance of the elevator 500 in the elevator hall 600 . When the aircraft 11 turns to change direction, it is necessary to determine the turning direction so that the aircraft 11 does not collide with the walls of the elevator hall 600 or the doors of the elevator 500 .

The turning direction of the aircraft 11 at the waypoint Pw will be described with reference to FIG. 7A. In FIG. 7A, the fuselage 11 before turning is indicated by a broken line, and the fuselage 11 after turning is indicated by a solid line. In the example shown in FIG. 7A, the movement control unit 152 rotates the body 11 clockwise.

The turning direction may be determined, for example, as follows. When the autonomous mobile body 1 arrives at the waypoint Pw, the direction of the body 11 is the direction of viewing the waypoint Pw from the departure point Ps. In the example shown in FIG. 7A, the entrance to elevator 500 is on the left side of fuselage 11 in this orientation.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the turning center Cw of the fuselage 11 is eccentric to the rear side of the fuselage 11 . Therefore, when the fuselage 11 is turned, the front end of the fuselage 11 draws an arc around the turning center Cw. As described above, since the entrance of the elevator 500 exists on the left side of the aircraft 11, when the front side of the aircraft 11 turns in the direction of the destination point Pd (end point position) inside the elevator 500, the front side of the aircraft 11 will hit the entrance of

Therefore, when the fuselage 11 changes direction at the waypoint Pw, the front side of the fuselage 11 (that is, the side opposite to the eccentric side of the turning center, an example of the other side in the present disclosure) moves away from the destination point Pd (end point position). By turning the fuselage 11 in the direction, the front end of the fuselage 11 moving in an arc can be prevented from coming into contact with the wall surface 501 provided with the entrance of the elevator 500 .

As shown in FIG. 7B, when the waypoint Pw and the entrance of the elevator 500 are relatively far apart, at the waypoint Pw, the front side of the fuselage 11 turns toward the entrance of the elevator 500. can be ensured. However, when the waypoint Pw and the entrance of the elevator 500 are relatively distant, the route of movement (approach route) in the section 01 passes through a position relatively distant from the wall surface 501 on which the entrance of the elevator 500 is provided. , the movement of other people present in the elevator hall 600 is likely to be disturbed.

Therefore, as described above, it is preferable that the approach route in the section 01 be a route that is close to the wall surface 501 and that follows the wall surface 501 . Then, as in FIG. 7A, it is preferable to turn the airframe 11 in a direction in which the front side of the airframe 11 moves away from the destination point Pd. If the departure point Ps is located away from the wall surface 501 on which the entrance of the elevator 500 is located, the route determining unit 153 moves the airframe 11 once to the vicinity of the wall surface 501 and then along the wall surface 501. An approach route may be set so as to move to the waypoint Pw.

In this way, the front side of the airframe 11 turns away from the destination point Pd, so that the rear side of the airframe 11 faces toward the destination point Pd provided inside the elevator 500 . In this state, the route determination unit 153 uses the second route determination method to determine a route for moving from the starting position (route point Pw) to the ending point position (destination point Pd) (step S8 in FIG. 4). reference). Note that in the present disclosure, a route from a waypoint Pw outside elevator 500 to a destination point Pd inside elevator 500, that is, a route for boarding elevator 500 is referred to as a boarding route.

The second route determination method will be explained. In the second route determination method, the route determination unit 153 determines the boarding route based on the target points set by the target point setting unit 155 .

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining how the target point setting unit 155 sets target points.

A plurality of detection points Pm shown in FIG. 8 are detection points detected by the range sensor 14B. When the autonomous mobile body 1 is positioned at the waypoint Pw, the detection points detected by the range sensor 14B are the wall surface 501 provided with the entrance of the elevator 500, the door pocket 502 provided inside the wall surface 501, and the elevator 500. The wall surface inside the cage 504 including the outer door 503, the cage 504, the inner door 505 of the elevator 500, and the inner wall surface 506 of the cage 504 of the elevator is detected.

From these detection points Pm, the target point setting unit 155 selects a detection point group PmG_1 corresponding to the wall surface 506 on the back side of the cage of the elevator 500 and a detection point group PmG_2 corresponding to both ends of the entrance of the elevator 500. to extract

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the autonomous mobile body 1 and a plurality of detection points. FIG. 9 is a diagram in which elevator 500 and wall surfaces are removed from FIG.

First, the target point setting unit 155 extracts the farthest detection point Pm_far from the airframe 11 from the detection point group detected by the ranging sensor 14B, and also extracts the farthest detection point Pm_far from the farthest detection point Pm_far. Extract the point group PmG_1. The detection point group PmG_1 can be regarded as a detection point group indicating the wall surface 506 on the back side of the cage of the elevator 500 .

Next, the target point setting unit 155 uses the detection points included in the detection point group PmG_1 to find the line segment L1 by the least-squares estimation method or the like. A line segment L1 is a line segment corresponding to the wall surface 506 on the back side of the cage of the elevator 500 when the elevator 500 and the autonomous mobile body 1 are viewed from above.

Target point setting unit 155 also detects left detection area Am_L and right detection area Am_R for specifying both ends of the entrance of elevator 500 based on the shape information of elevator 500 stored in advance in shape information storage unit 151C. set. Then, the detection point Pm_near_L closest to the aircraft 11 among the detection points existing inside the left detection area Am_L, the detection point Pm_near_R closest to the aircraft 11 among the detection points existing inside the right detection area Am_R, Extract each. The two detection points thus extracted correspond to the corners on both sides of the entrance of the elevator 500, as shown in FIG.

The left detection area Am_L and the right detection area Am_R will be explained. The range of each detection area is set by various parameters indicating the shape of elevator 500 stored in shape information storage unit 151C.

For example, the range of the detection area in the depth direction of the elevator 500 is set by the inner depth dimension Sin_depth and the outer depth dimension Sout_depth of the cage of the elevator 500, and their detection margins My. As shown in FIG. 9, the range R_depth of the detection region in the depth direction is set to the following range in the depth direction with the line segment L1 as a reference.

(Sin_depth-My)<Rd_depth<(Sout_depth+My)
Also, the range of the detection area in the width direction of the elevator 500 is set by the width We of the entrance of the elevator 500 and its detection margin Mx. As shown in FIG. 9, the range R_width_L of the left detection area in the width direction is set to the following range in the width direction with reference to the perpendicular line L2 drawn from the range sensor 14B to the line segment L1.

(-We/2-Mx)<R_width_L<(-We/2)
Similarly, the range R_width_R of the right detection area in the width direction is set to the following range in the width direction with reference to the perpendicular line L2 drawn from the range sensor 14B to the line segment L1.

(We/2)<R_width_R<(We/2+Mx)
The left and right detection points Pm_near_L and Pm_near_R extracted in this way are the detection point group PmG_2 corresponding to both ends of the entrance of the elevator 500 . Then, the target point setting unit 155 derives the middle point P_center between the detection points Pm_near_L and Pm_near_R. Furthermore, the target point setting unit 155 draws a perpendicular line L3 from the midpoint P_center to the line segment L1. A perpendicular line L3 is a straight line passing through the center of the entrance of the elevator 500 and perpendicular to the wall surface 506 on the back side of the cage of the elevator 500 .

The perpendicular L3 derived in this way passes through the entrance of the elevator 500 and the center of the cage of the elevator 500. Therefore, by moving the body 11 of the autonomous mobile body 1 along the perpendicular line L3, even if the entrance of the elevator 500 is relatively narrow, there is a possibility that the body 11 will come into contact with the entrance, door, wall surface, etc. of the elevator 500. can be reduced.

Therefore, the target point setting unit 155 sets two target points Pg_1 and Pg_2 on the perpendicular line L3 derived as described above, as shown in FIG. The first target point Pg_1 is provided outside the entrance of the elevator 500 . Specifically, the position of the target point Pg_1 is a position away from the midpoint P_center on the perpendicular L3 by a distance α to the outside of the elevator 500 .

As can be seen from FIG. 9, the midpoint P_center is between the two corners of the entrance of the elevator 500, in other words, between the outermost left and right detection points Pm_near_L and Pm_near_R of the entrance of the elevator 500. is the midpoint. Therefore, the midpoint P_center is located on the outermost side when viewed from elevator 500 . Therefore, the target point Pg_1, which is located outside the elevator 500 by the distance α from the midpoint P_center, is positioned outside the elevator 500 without fail.

The second target point Pg_2 is provided inside the cage of the elevator 500 and near the destination point Pd (within a predetermined distance). Specifically, the position of the target point Pg_2 is a position away from the line segment L1 corresponding to the wall surface 506 on the back side of the cage of the elevator 500 on the vertical line L3 by the distance β to the inside of the elevator 500 . Note that the distances α and β are parameters determined based on the size of the airframe 11, for example.

The route determination unit 153 determines the boarding route so as to pass through the target points set by the target point setting unit 155 in this way. Specifically, the route determination unit 153 determines the boarding route so that the aircraft 11 moves from the waypoint Pw, which is the starting position of the section 02, to the target point Pg_2 via the target point Pg_1.

The target points Pg_1 and Pg_2 are on the perpendicular line L3 passing through the center of the entrance of the elevator 500 as described above. Therefore, by moving the aircraft 11 to the target point Pg_1 and then to the target point Pg_2 inside the elevator 500, the possibility of the aircraft 11 contacting the entrance of the elevator 500 can be reduced. .

After moving the body 11 from the waypoint Pw to the target point Pg_1, the movement control unit 152 turns the body 11 so that the rear side of the body 11 faces the target point Pg_2, and then moves the body 11 to the target point Pg_2. You may make it move to Pg_2.

As described above, the target point Pg_2 is provided near the destination point Pd on the perpendicular L3. Therefore, when the aircraft 11 reaches the target point Pg_2, the movement control unit 152 determines that the aircraft 11 has reached the destination point Pd, which is the end position of the section 02, and terminates the movement of the aircraft 11. good. Alternatively, the movement control unit 152 may move the aircraft 11 to the target point Pg_2 and then move the aircraft 11 to the destination point Pd. The destination point Pd or the target point Pg_2 is a position inside the elevator 500 where the body 11 does not come into contact with the inner wall surface 506 of the elevator 500 .

As described above, unlike the first route determination method, the second route determination method does not use the self-position and map information estimated by the position estimation unit 154, and the position of the elevator 500 detected by the range sensor 14B is determined. A boarding route is determined using the detection points of each part. The self-position estimated by the position estimator 154 includes errors that may occur due to map information errors, encoder errors that measure the number of rotations of the drive wheels 12, or the like. Such an error does not pose a particular problem when determining the approach route when moving outside the elevator 500, but when entering through the entrance of the elevator 500, route determination with higher accuracy is possible. is required. In the second route determination method, the boarding route is set without using information with errors such as map information, so the route can be determined with higher accuracy than in the first route determination method.

<Modification>
In the above-described embodiment, when the body 11 is turned, the autonomous mobile body 1 drives the left and right drive wheels 12 in opposite directions at the same speed so that the midpoint of the left and right drive wheels 12 is the turning center Cw. An example of rotating as . However, in the present disclosure, for example, one of the left and right drive wheels 12 may be rotated while the other is driven while the other drive wheel 12 is stopped.

In the above-described embodiment, as a specific example, the autonomous mobile body 1 is provided in the section 01 that moves from the departure point Ps provided in the elevator hall 600 to the waypoint Pw, and the section 01 that is provided inside the elevator 500 from the waypoint Pw. An example in which the robot continuously moves through the section 02 in which it moves to the destination point Pd has been described. However, in the present disclosure, the autonomous mobile body may continuously move three or more sections.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the autonomous mobile body 1 moves inside the elevator 500 as the destination point Pd has been described. The present disclosure can also be applied when an autonomous mobile body starts inside an elevator and moves outside the elevator as a destination point. In this case, when the autonomous mobile body exits from the inside of the elevator into the elevator hall, it may change direction so that the front side of the body moves toward the destination point, and then move again to the destination point.

In the embodiment described above, the driving wheels 12 of the autonomous mobile body 1 are rear wheels. However, in the present disclosure, the driving wheels of the autonomous mobile body may be front wheels. In this case, the center of rotation of the autonomous mobile body is eccentric to the front side of the body. When such an autonomous mobile body changes direction to face the destination point set inside the via point elevator near the elevator entrance, if the aircraft is turned in a turning direction such that the rear side of the aircraft moves away from the destination point. good.

The autonomous mobile body according to the present disclosure can suitably perform autonomous movement including getting on and off an elevator.

1 autonomous mobile body 11 body 12 drive wheel 13 driven

wheel

14, 14A, 14B range sensor 15 control unit 151 storage unit 151A map information storage unit 151B section information storage unit 151C shape information storage unit 152 movement control unit 153 route determination unit 154 Position estimation unit 155 Target point setting unit

Claims

A control method for an autonomous mobile body that controls a driving unit that moves the body,
A first step of determining an approach route, which is a route of the autonomous mobile body to a starting point outside the elevator, and controlling the drive unit to move the aircraft based on the approach route;
a second step of determining a boarding route, which is a route of the autonomous mobile body from the starting point to an end point inside the elevator, and controlling the drive unit to move the aircraft based on the boarding route;
A control method for an autonomous mobile body, including
A third step of controlling the drive unit so as to rotate the fuselage in a direction that moves the other side of the fuselage away from the end point, with a point eccentric to one side of the fuselage at the starting point as the turning center, further comprising a third step;
the third step is performed between the first step and the second step;
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 1 .
The starting point is first position information included in map information including the position of the elevator,
In the first step, determining execution of the second step based on the first location information;
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 2 .
The starting point is a position indicated by first position information included in map information including the position of the elevator,
In the first step, determining execution of the third step based on the first location information;
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 2 or 3.
The autonomous mobile body includes a position estimating unit that estimates the position of the aircraft,
In the first step, determining the approach route based on the map information and the position of the aircraft estimated by the position estimation unit;
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 3 or 4.
The autonomous mobile body comprises a range sensor that measures the relative distance and direction between objects around the aircraft and the aircraft,
In the second step, based on the measurement results of the range sensor, the relative positions of the aircraft and each part of the elevator are obtained, and the boarding route is determined based on the relative positions.
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
In the second step, the end point is determined based on the relative positions of the airframe, both ends of the entrance of the elevator, and the inner wall of the cage of the elevator when the elevator door is open. set,
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 6.
In the second step, the end point is set on a line perpendicular to the back wall passing through the center of both ends of the entrance.
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 7 .
In the second step, a waypoint is set outside the elevator from the center of the two ends on the perpendicular, the end point is set inside the cage of the elevator on the perpendicular, and from the starting point generating the boarding path that moves the vehicle through the waypoint to the endpoint;
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 8 .
In the second step, the waypoint is set outside the elevator by a predetermined distance from the center of the corners of the entrance.
The method for controlling an autonomous mobile body according to claim 9 .